Electric connector with contact protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9444205-B2
Application number	US-201514613861-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 4, 2015
Priority date	Mar 25, 2014
Publication date	Sep 13, 2016
Grant date	Sep 13, 2016

Abstract

An electric connector includes a connector body and a conductor base attached to the connector body. A plurality of contact arms extend from the conductor base away from the connector body and are located around a central space. The electric connector also includes a pin attached to the connector body and located in the central space.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electric connector comprising:
a connector body;
a conductor base attached to the connector body;
a plurality of contact arms that extends from the conductor base away from the connector body, the contact arms defining a central space;
a spring that includes a plurality of spring arms that engage the plurality of contact arms and bias the plurality of contact arms toward the central space, and
a pin attached to the connector body and located in the central space.

2. The electric connector of claim 1 , further comprising a terminal shield attached to the connector body that substantially surrounds the conductor base and contact arms.

3. The electric connector of claim 2 , wherein the terminal shield defines a terminal opening that is aligned with the central space.

4. The electric connector of claim 3 , wherein the pin extends into the terminal opening.

5. The electric connector of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of contact arms extends from the conductor base in an outward direction, and the terminal shield extends farther in the outward direction than the plurality of contact arms.

6. The electric connector of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of contact arms extends from the conductor base in an outward direction, and the pin extends farther in the outward direction than the plurality of contact arms.

7. The electric connector of claim 1 , wherein the spring includes a spring body and the plurality of spring arms extends from the spring body, and wherein the spring body defines a pin opening that the pin passes through.

8. The electric connector of claim 7 , wherein the pin includes a pin body that is located between the spring body and the conductor base.

9. The electric connector of claim 8 , wherein the conductor base defines a conductor mounting opening and the pin body defines a pin mounting opening and the connector body includes a positioning post that is located in the conductor mounting opening and the pin mounting opening.

10. An electric connector comprising:
a connector body;
a conductor base attached to the connector body;
a plurality of contact arms that extends from the conductor base in an outward direction away from the connector body, the contact arms located around a central space;
a terminal shield attached to the connector body that extends farther in the outward direction than the contact arms and substantially surrounds the conductor base and contact arms, the terminal shield defining a terminal opening that is aligned with the central space; and
a blocking portion located in the terminal opening, wherein the terminal shield and the blocking portion are made of an electrically non-conductive material.

11. The electric connector of claim 10 , wherein the blocking portion is positioned within the central space.

12. An electric terminal assembly comprising:
a conductor that includes a conductor base and a plurality of contact arms that extends from the conductor base in an outward direction, the contact arms located around a central space;
a spring that includes a plurality of spring arms that engage the contact arms and bias the contact arms toward the central space; and
a pin that includes a blocking portion that is located within the central space, wherein the spring includes a spring body and the plurality of spring arms extends from the spring body, and the spring body defines a pin opening that the blocking portion of the pin passes through.

13. The electric terminal assembly of claim 12 , wherein the pin includes a pin body that is located between the spring body and the conductor base, and wherein the blocking portion of the pin extends in the outward direction from the pin body.

14. The electric terminal assembly of claim 13 , wherein the conductor base defines a conductor mounting opening and the pin body defines a pin mounting opening that is aligned with the conductor mounting opening.

15. The electric terminal assembly of claim 12 , wherein the blocking portion extends farther in the outward direction than the contact arms.

16. An electric connector comprising:
a connector body;
a conductor base attached to the connector body;
a plurality of contact arms that extends from the conductor base away from the connector body, the contact arms defining a central space; and
a pin attached to the connector body and extending into the central space, wherein the pin is made of an electrically non-conductive material.

17. The electric connector of claim 16 , further including a spring having a plurality of spring arms that engage the plurality of contact arms and bias the plurality of contact arms toward the central space.

18. The electric connector of claim 17 , wherein the pin includes a pin body that is located between the spring and the conductor base.

19. The electric connector of claim 17 , wherein the spring includes a spring body, the plurality of spring arms extends from the spring body, and the spring body defines a pin opening through which the pin passes.

20. The electric connector of claim 16 , wherein the pin extends farther away from the connector body than the contact arms.

Assignees

• Lear Corp

Inventors

• Rangi Bhupinder
• Glick Michael
• Menzies David

Classifications

• H01R13/02 Primary

  Contact members · CPC title

• H01R13/44

  Means for preventing access to live contacts {(making use of a switch actuated by engagement of counterpart H01R13/7036)} · CPC title

• H01R13/18 Primary

  with the spring member surrounding the socket · CPC title

• H01R24/86 Primary

  Parallel contacts arranged about a common axis · CPC title

• H01R13/502

  composed of different pieces (H01R13/514 takes precedence) · CPC title